Requiem
by Shini02
Summary: Oneshot. While chained and bound in Einon's courtyard, Draco sings his final song.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dragonheart, Draco, Einon or Aislinn. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

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**Requiem**

The dragon's song was deafening. The knights and guards in the castle, whose nerves were once made of steel, were now a nervous lot who knew not what to do with themselves to drown out the sad song. Even the dragon slayers guarding the dragon eyed one another uneasily; never had a dragon acted this way upon capture. Only the queen was able to keep her reserve as the dragon wailed.

Aislinn stood on a balcony, overseeing the courtyard, keeping a silent vigil on the battered creature. His deep trilling made her weary heart ache. She had never heard such a song, so full of conflicting emotions – sadness and rage and regret and a _yearning_ for something forsaken long ago.

"Bothersome beast," Einon muttered as he took his place beside his mother, watching the large reptile writhe in vain against his bonds. "It should be grateful it's alive!"

If only it were as simple as that – life and death, Aislinn thought. She never looked to her son. "There are worse fates than death."

Perhaps if his would-be queen hadn't said the same to him, he could have ignored those words. "I will put a stop to his bleating," he said with a smugness in his voice, as though the dragon were a dog about to be disciplined by its master.

"Lord," Aislinn murmured, and the dragon looked up at her. "Forgive me," she bowed her head to the only God she had ever known, promising in her silence to free him.

"I may just pay the smithy to fashion a cage large enough to hold you, dragon, since you seem intent on singing for me," Einon said, his voice an echo across the courtyard, momentarily silencing Draco. The king stopped a mere foot from the dragon's face, making it no point to hide the admiration he had for the chains attached to each horn on the beast's crest.

"I sing not for you, child," Draco retorted in a low snarl.

"Then what for?" Einon squatted before the massive face, elbows on his knees. "In hopes the knight and his army of peasants will come to your rescue?"

The thought was pleasant, but that's all it would ever be. A mere idea never to become reality. "Hardly."

"Then what is it you sing for?" Einon inquired, shuffling forward until the dragon was within his reach. "A serenade for your master?"

Draco blew smoke from his nostrils as he boldly laughed in the young man's face. "A serenade for the likes of you! Perhaps you should trade in your cockeyed crown for a jester's hat."

"Loathsome lizard!" Einon snapped, spittle glistening on his lips. "I would slaughter you myself if..."

"If it didn't mean suicide," the dragon chuckled rather smugly. "I may be bound by your fancy chains, but I do not fear you for you can do me no harm without harming yourself."

Something in Einon's sudden stare made his blood run cold, like ice through his veins, and the king shivered in response to the chill. "How right you are, dragon of mine. I can do you no harm without hurting myself... But it works in the reverse as well, does it not?" He questioned, the chill in his blood finding its way to his voice as he reached behind himself and produced his most favored dagger. And using the tip of the blade, he pushed open his royal garb to reveal his scar. Time had not been kind to it, twisting the flesh into an ugly and knotted, pale lump on the young king's chest. It mirrored the heart within.

Einon traced the outline of the scar and felt his heart pick up its pace, pounding frantically. But it was not his anxiety that made the life giving organ throb so. He grinned at the dragon and pressed the sharp tip of the dagger to the scar harder. Harder. Until dead flesh was peeling and blood was pouring and the vile beast was roaring in pain.

"That's it!" Einon cheered through clenched teeth, ignoring his own pain as well as he possibly could. "_Now_ you sing for me!" The dagger dipped in deeper. The dragon screamed louder. Einon grinned wickedly through the searing pain, finally retracting the bloody blade. It took mere minutes before the scar sealed itself up once again, leaving the king to catch his breath and the dragon equally sated.

"...cursed whelp," Draco said, voice low as he regained his composure. "You're out of your mind."

"Cursed and insane, perhaps, but immortalized." Einon ran a hand over Draco's snout, merely chuckling as the beast shuddered under his touch. "I thank you, dragon," he murmured before standing, tucking the dagger back into his belt. Then he left the dragon, left him to the queen's ever silent watch once more.

Aislinn choked back tears as she watched the dragon groan quietly in pain, shifting against his bonds to rid himself of the sting still in his chest.

"Soon, my Lord, soon," she promised. The dragon looked to her, having once again heard the words meant only for him. "Soon you will be free," she nodded, fist clenched over her own broken heart.

Draco nodded awkwardly against the chains, then closed his eyes to the queen. He then took a breath, waited for the aches and pains to subside, and began his song again as he awaited his ultimate release – death.

-End


End file.
